By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday May 20, 2023
Patrick Mouratoglou has come to the aid of Simona Halep a day after the Romanian was hit with a second doping charge, for having an irregular biological passport.
“I truly believed the ITIA would conduct a fair investigation to establish the truth,” Mouratoglou wrote on social media. “The fact that I don't have the same feeling at all now is disturbing and has finally brought me to write these few words.
“I know there is no way she would have ever done anything that would have been illegal,” Mouratglou said, adding: “Since the day the ITIA has charged her, I have been and will continue to be next to her every single day to support her in her fight for the truth.”
Halep released a statement within 90 minutes of Friday’s news, claiming that she has been “harassed” by the ITIA.
“Not only has my name been soiled in the worst possible way, but I am facing a constant determination from the ITIA for a reason that I cannot understand, to prove my guilt while I haven’t EVER even thought of taking any illicit substance,” she wrote.
Her coach Mouratoglou is also shocked by the treatment the former World No.1 and two-time major champion is receiving.
“I'm extremely shocked by the way this case has been conducted,” he wrote. “I thought that the ITIA would pursue the goal to establish the truth, but they clearly tried to prove her guilty even though she has been able to show multiple evidence of her innocence since December 22.”
The Frenchman claims that charging Halep with “irregularities in her Athlete Biological Passport” is bogus.
“The last charge that has been sent to her yesterday, which is totally linked with the first case is a pure interpretation of her blood passport,” he wrote. “In other words, the ITIA hasn't found any illegal substance in her blood, but just states that her blood parameters are suspicious.
“Well-renowned experts who have checked on them have established that this statement is totally wrong. And a biased interpretation and that her blood parameters are perfectly normal.”